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Is It Still Possible to Use Replicant With US Carriers?
Added by Joshua Bowren over 5 years ago
Hi all,
I've been using Replicant on my i9100 for sometime now with MetroPCS (now called Metro by T-Mobile). About a year ago I noticed the quality of my service (speed and coverage) degraded significantly after I was informed about changes to the physical network providing service for MetroPCS. My i9100 has been pretty difficult to make calls with since the changes (portions of conversations are inaudible and sometimes calls are dropped), and data access has been almost unusable. Recently I decided I should upgrade my phone or switch networks, but I noticed that most (if not all) cell carriers in the United States are terminating 3G service in favor of 4G in the near future, some as early as 2019. Are there any carriers still offering 3G for more than a few years to come? Has there been any progress on the RIL for the i9305?
Josh
Replies (3)
RE: Is It Still Possible to Use Replicant With US Carriers? - Added by Kurtis Hanna over 5 years ago
Josh,
I don't know the answer to your question about which US Carriers, if any, are planning on continuing to support 3G for years to come. Also, I believe that phase out of 3G is location specific for some carriers, so it might work with a carrier in some places but if you travel, it won't work in other places. Support for 4G on Replicant is still stalled, but we also just got a $200,000 donation so now we can fund developers to work on this issue. Help on this front is very much wanted, so if you or anyone else reading this is interested in helping out, please let the project know!
RE: Is It Still Possible to Use Replicant With US Carriers? - Added by 9be42f24d3 cfcedda835 over 5 years ago
Kurtis Hanna wrote:
Josh,
I don't know the answer to your question about which US Carriers, if any, are planning on continuing to support 3G for years to come. Also, I believe that phase out of 3G is location specific for some carriers, so it might work with a carrier in some places but if you travel, it won't work in other places. Support for 4G on Replicant is still stalled, but we also just got a $200,000 donation so now we can fund developers to work on this issue. Help on this front is very much wanted, so if you or anyone else reading this is interested in helping out, please let the project know!
So what models are in the pipeline, i9305 and N7105? Possibly even the Librem 5 (i know this one is too early to say)? Would be great to have some 4G compatible models. Even in Western-Europe 3G will disappear on every carrier in the next 1-3 years.
RE: Is It Still Possible to Use Replicant With US Carriers? - Added by Joshua Bowren over 5 years ago
Kurtis,
Thanks for the update. Good to hear about the new funding. Unfortunately I don't have time to spare at the moment, nor experience with implementing an RIL. However, I am glad to see the project still has leadership and plans to add 4G.
Josh